[AT] How embarrassing... :-(

Paul Waugh pwaugh at embarqmail.com
Wed Aug 4 17:42:49 PDT 2010


At least it takes something bright and shiny to distract you .... me, a 
mouse turd can change my direction LOL

Paul - 46555
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Indiana Robinson" <robinson46176 at gmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 8:03 PM
Subject: [AT] How embarrassing... :-(


> Ever just do something really stupid?
> I mentioned a day or so ago that I was getting my 4020 ready to sell
> (I need the money and not the tractor) :-) . Weeeell, I had noticed
> that "somehow", I don't know when, that the battery in it had gotten
> hooked up reversed polarity. It had been charging fine and showed no
> problems. OK, selling it, I will put it right, polarize the generator
> and it will be right when moving on.
> Good plan except my short term memory is gone and I saw something
> bright and shiny and got side-tracked by something else and forgot to
> do the polarizing... I climbed in the cab later and fired it up and
> drove it across the road toward the west barns testing the shifting
> and anything else I could think of. I drove it back to the shop and
> parked it by the north door. Shut it off and climbed out. The big
> service and parts manuals were there in the shop but I remembered that
> I had an operators manual as well and went down to the old office to
> get it. I walked in the door, looked in of couple of pigeon holes and
> pulled out the operators manual and also found a I&T service manual. I
> walked the 300' back up to the shop and realized that I could see
> smoke. Picking up the pace I rounded the corner and saw smoke coming
> from the 4020 and the fellow who had just arrived to look at it
> reaching in the cab. He had just pulled in while I was at the office
> and saw the smoke. He had the sense to open the back of his truck and
> grab a pair of Vice-grips and quickly disconnect the battery cable. We
> checked things out a little and he still looked at it then we went in
> the shop and had a nice two hour old tractor visit. :-)
> The next day I opened the hood up and son Scott came over and we
> (mostly he) finally took the hood clear off and he built a new under
> hood wiring harness for it. None of the rest of the wiring was hurt,
> just the charging stuff. He did replace a good bit of other under-hood
> wiring just because some of it was kind of hard and brittle (it must
> be old)  :-)
> Of course the regulator was fried. I picked up a new one today. I had
> tried Rural King and TSC and they were out of them. We drove a little
> farther to a John Deere dealer and he had them in stock, made in USA
> and a dollar less than it would have been at Rural King.
> I carefully installed the new regulator AND REMEMBERED TO POLARIZE IT.
> Fired it up and it was as I feared... Dash light still on. Pulled the
> generator and dismantled it. It needs brushes but the giblets are all
> fine. Seems to need an armature though.  :-(  I didn't even have to
> test it. Toast. That is going to hurt...
> The looker is BTW, still interested.
>
>
> -- 
>
>
> Be tolerant of almost everything but intolerance...
>
> Francis Robinson
> aka "farmer"
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com
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> 





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